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MY CHALLENGE

I challenge you to spend Canada Day honouring your commitment to a better path forward for the #Next150 years. Rather than attending events that may glorify Canada’s colonial relationship with Indigenous Peoples and a sanitized version of history and national identity, Decolonize Now and Celebrate Later; consider spending the day on the land in honest reflection, ceremony or conversation with friends and family.

About This Challenge

In 2017, when Canada officially celebrated Canada 150, many people, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, chose to forgo the celebrations and used the opportunity of the moment to call for and to take action to decolonize instead. Now, in 2018, we seek to further these conversations, we want to push all Canadians to use this opportunity to create a better #Next150.

In the past year - like every year before it - Canada has seen great moments and moments of despair. Many of you felt deeply those moments that stand out for Indigenous people and our allies. For my challenge I’m calling on you, to use Canada Day as an opportunity to consciously consider what Canada really is, who we hope to be, and how your actions can move us closer to that future.

If you’re doing these #Next150 challenges, you’re already moving in a good direction. My challenge for you is to consider what you’ve done, what else you can do, and how you can influence others to consider taking positive action. Instead of going to organized events on Canada Day, spend July 1st in ceremony, hold space or fast in remembrance of or prayer for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and Two Spirit people. Consider the challenges our country faces in terms of addressing systemic racism in the justice, education, housing, health and other systems for Indigenous, immigrant and racialized folks in this country and figure out where your power lies to make positive changes to these systems. You could also spend the day connecting or reconnecting with the land and waters where you live; we know here from discussions of the #OnWhoseLand challenge that any discussion of Reconciliation without a discussion of connection to land is incomplete. Consider spending Canada Day out on the land and learning more about it either on your own or with those in your life who are more knowledgeable about the places you live.

Please share with me, and with all of the #Next150 challenge takers, what you hope to do on Canada Day instead of attending organized events, with the hashtag #DecolonizeNowCelebrateLater.

Why?

Shedding light on ongoing injustices, doesn’t diminish the great accomplishments of Canadians, but failing to acknowledge this dark history and failing to act on this knowledge, creates barriers to positive change and possibility for Indigenous people now and in the future.

It might be uncomfortable to skip organized events, but change is uncomfortable and the actual work of reconciliation is going to get uncomfortable if it’s going to have an impact. Disrupt your normal Canada Day cycle and spend the day reflecting on what Canada Day really means. Disrupt the status quo and spend the day imaging a better future for our country.

Committing to the idea of decolonization, Reconciliation, or a better #Next150 demands action of everyone. Many people will have Canada Day off of work or school, for my #Next150 challenge, I’m asking you to use that time to decide how to decolonize now, and celebrate later.

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accepted this challenge.

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A challenge from:

Jessica Bolduc, 4Rs Youth Movement

The 4Rs Youth Movement is an Indigenous youth-led, settler supported, national collaborative, seeking to change the country by changing relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous young people. This starts by carefully supporting and creating brave spaces for honest dialogue that centres the needs, experiences and visions of Indigenous young people, now and into the future.

Jessica Bolduc is the Executive Director of the 4Rs Youth Movement. As a volunteer, she is a Board member of Turtle Island Institute, Thinking Rock Community Arts, and a member of the Core Team for the Youth Social Infrastructure Collaborative (YSI). Jessica has a BA in Economics from Carleton University. She has travelled across Turtle Island and internationally, in order to learn about the conditions that might be necessary for communities to shift and transform complex systems through dialogue and strategic action.

"Rather than attending events that may glorify Canada’s colonial relationship with Indigenous Peoples and a sanitized version of history and national identity, Decolonize Now and Celebrate Later; consider spending the day on the land in honest reflection, ceremony or conversation with friends and family."

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